An Amazing Trick to Make Transcribing Easier

Transcription isn’t as simple as just typing, but it is, in fact, a specialty. Transcription is basically the process of converting speech or audio files into a written or electronic text document. There are many types of audio files that need to be transcribed, mostly legal and medical. However, business transcription is also increasing because of Internet marketing and social media. As such, a teleseminar, webinar, podcast, or any other type of digital audio may need transcription. The transcribed documents can be used or repurposed in many ways, like workbooks or e-books, blog posts or articles.

The process requires practice and dedication, so as to transcribe faster. A good transcriptionist is an expert in multitasking, researching, and fast and accurate typing. Typically, the process involves opening up the media player and Word, switching windows and rushing your fingers off the keyboard to click between the two programmes and manually play and pause the audio while you type out what you hear.

This is really tricky, but here’s a way to save your time and ease the pain of transcription. To make the task easier so that you never have to click back and forth again, you need to configure the VLC global hotkeys. VLC comes with various features and is free to download. For doing this, you don’t need a laptop with built-in media controls. Just follow these simple steps:

Ø First, you need to go to tools > preferences > hotkeys. Now, in the drop box, you will see two columns ‘hotkey’ and ‘global’. For transcription purpose, you need to select global because this will enable you to work from anywhere, be it from Word, or browsing the web. Hotkey, on the other hand, is useful only when VLC is the active programme. Moreover, ensure your global column at this time is blank.

Ø Next, whatever setting you wish you change, just double-click it in the ‘global’ column. In case, you want to change ‘play/pause,’ then double click on it.

Ø By doing this, a pop-up box appears on the screen to select a new key combination. Now while selecting keys, you have to keep in mind to choose the keys which you can easily remember and are not used for another shortcut. It is important to note here that you must avoid selecting any alphabet or key that you frequently use in typing. This is because, suppose you select key ‘s’, now every time you type s during transcription, your audio will stop or start. You may use any easy combination, such as ‘shift+right arrow’, as isn’t already used as a shortcut/hotkey in Word.

In this way, you can change the setting as per your convenience. All the new key combinations that you select will appear in the global column. You can select any action to program specifically for transcription, like Play/Pause, Slower, or Faster, to make the whole process easier. In case, people are talking really fast, you can use the slow down command. This option allows you to slow down the audio to the extent that you can type with speakers. However, by doing this the sound becomes quite hazy.

Moreover, you can improve your transcription speed by using the right equipment and learning to type faster. The demand for transcription has grown substantially over the years. Today, universities, government organizations, medical professionals, law firms, insurance firms, all require excellent transcription service.